Tools

Share!

Ignore warning at our peril

Story Created:
Jun 6, 2014 at 9:46 PM ECT

Story Updated:
Jun 6, 2014 at 9:46 PM ECT

Would it be the usual indifference to the British High Commissioner’s telling observation to the effect that this country is swimming in a sea of lawlessness, for as I have maintained so often in my letters, lawlessness is no longer a concern because it has become a part of us and we have come to expect it? Like the conventional law breakers such as the guy speeding through the red light, or someone faking academic qualifications, or another squatting on State lands, or others stealing investors’ hard-earned money, or guilty of insider trading, or the other types which demonstrate unconscionable behaviour at its worst, like beating a baby or a woman to death, or raping her, or unethical behaviour from ministers, or the silence of regulatory bodies on obscene real estate prices facilitated by money laundering, or malpractice in our nation’s hospitals, or exploiting the legal system for private gain, or destroying the environment to satisfy greed.This wide cross-section of negative behaviours is intended to illustrate how pervasive, indeed, how cultural lawlessness has become. For what is culture but the sum total of accepted patterns of behaviour and this is where lawlessness has reached in this country! But why should we take heed of the comments of High Commissioner Snell? Some may want to write him off as an outsider meddling in Trini business, but even so, coming from one of the most progressive societies in the world and even violating a protocol to point to a truth which so many are indifferent to, should we not at least lift an eyelid and pay some attention? A society which lacks the normal legal, moral and ethical constraints on unacceptable behaviours is doomed to fail and we ignore the High Commissioner’s warning at our peril! Dr Errol Benjaminvia e-mail